Heatwave

*Gasp*

This is the third of a four-day heatwave, with temps in the 90s. Although I've been very busy gardening from sunrise until around 10am each day, by noon I am exhausted! Even the dogs look disinterested in a walk.

This heat will do wonders for the seeds I am germinating in my "experimental garden" but if it gets any hotter too soon the vegetables will start wilting. I've already lost one Roma Tomato plant, but most likely to verticillum wilt.

Mountain lion and bob cat sightings in Tucson are increasing, but so are the rabid animals found: 23 so far this year. (Mostly skunks but a few bobcats).

A short walk with the dogs to the San Pedro River in the late afternoon revealed a severe infestation of the western Tent Caterpillar in the riverside Cottonwoods. The pillars were everywhere, in the sandy shore, drifting in the water, eating on a beaver-eaten tree stump and hanging around the low-lying shrubs along the banks.

Meanwhile, gas prices keep rising, now nearing $3.30 a gallon for regular unleaded in town. Violence is rising in Iraq again, so is the tension between Senators Clinton and Obama, and airlines are merging, cutting back flights with no notice, and prices for everthing else is rising.

As for flying: I will do my best from now on NEVER to fly with an American airline again. The Transportation Security Agency and the Federal Airline Agency both have ruined it for me. Sure, plying is faster and the land looks beautiful from above when there are no clouds below, but you can't experience America from an airplane. You need to be in a vehicle on the backroads!